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Monthly Archives: April 2013

Mon ami!
So sorry to not being able to keep in touch lately. As I had told you before,I was apt hunting and once found my nouveau maison, to prepare for my eventual move. On Moving Day, I was busy setting up my new home when once my phone line got connected, I got the terrible news from my sister that our mother had passed away in her sleep, exactly on my moving day.
My initial reactions were numb and I was on auto-pilot just going on my business. Don’t get me wrong, mon ami. Things have to be done. Eventually, I do break down and give myself a good cry about losing my mother but then, knowing her, she would want me to soldier on. Crying can be good for the soul too. It can be cleansing and soothing at times. It’s no good for our mental health if we keep all our ill feelings inside. It just might drive us to the point of insanity.

My mother’s funeral will be held tomorrow and I’ll be taking some time to spend with the rest of my family before I head back to Canada next month. But as I told you before, I will blog if there’s something of great interest to me. I will not be denied of that opportunity.

As I reflect on the events of this past week, all I can say is that I live my life as a book . A book contains any given number of chapters. I will start a new chapter of living in my new home once I get back as well as living a new chapter without my mother’s existence around even though she doesn’t physically live with me even before that. You know what I mean,mon ami , by that of course.

We all practically live our lives as books. It’s what we make of them in terms of the plot that determines the prologue, main story,epilogue and conclusion so distinctive and uniquely all our own. Add to that too is God guiding us every step of the way in this life of ours. He has a plan for all of us before we all go home to Him some day at His time like what my mother’s journey in life had been.

I was getting my keys to my new apartment yesterday(April15,2013)when I reached home and saw on TV the horrible news regarding an explosion at around 4pm+ EST at the Boston Marathon which is usually held annually every April15 as Patriot Day in the American state of Massachusetts.

After trying to digest all the awful news details, all I can say, mon ami is that why does it have to happen? It’ll take time I know to find the cause and the perpetrators of this heinous crime.

April 15 is also known as the anniversary date of the Oklahoma City Bombing and the Waco Texas siege. It makes me think whether there’s a copycat component to this or if someone just fancied that particular date.

This year, proceeds from the Boston Marathon was supposed to go to the victims of the Newtown massacre/school shooting.(Please see my 12-15-12 blog on the Newtown school mass shootout for further reference).

What had happened to the city of Boston(also known as Beantown due to their love for baked beans)can happen anywhere. Fatally disrupting a sporting event of this magnitude makes me shudder of other future sporting events like the Super Bowl, Olympics,New York marathon,etc. Makes me think that the terrorist thinks of a sporting event as a soft target. To attack quite near the finish line suggest to me that the perpetrator is sending a big underlying yet unknown message with a huge exclamation as if he has the last say.

Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s sole female and former Prime Minister of Britain has passed away today at age 87 due to a stroke. Considering her past history of strokes, this particular one unfortunately was the most recent and the most fatal.

Much had been said about her long storied political career. I will not go into much detail about that. One can just read it in all the newspapers and online news regarding this.

I want to talk about her as an individual, particularly as a female trying to make a mark in a predominantly male-oriented political venue. She had broken the glass ceiling, being able to become Britain’s first female Prime Minister but this job would entail a lot of testicular fortitude and grit for one to survive it. Mrs. Thatcher definitely wasn’t a wallflower nor a doormat. If she was going to be taken seriously by her male peers, she has to show a spine. She didn’t become the Iron Lady for nothing.

Love her or hate her, she governed Britain with an iron fist with the intention of making Britain a better and sustainable place to live in, particularly with the economy. She was not running a popularity contest. She proved that a female can be as capable as a man in running a country.

No one would ever question her ardent patriotism to the Union Jack(the British flag) for which every British subject will remember and admire her for it.

One of these days, If the movie “The Iron Lady’ comes out in cable or DVD, one perhaps (even moi) should watch it and get further insight into what makes Margaret Thatcher tick. The actress Meryl Streep who played the Iron Lady did it so convincingly that it even won for her a 3rd Oscar Best Actress award.

Mrs. Thatcher, you had already proven yourself as a strong individual who was taken seriously and had already earned your place in history, not only in Britain but also with the rest of the world.

Today(April 5,2013) at 10:27 am ET in Gatineau,Quebec, Canada, a 911 call was phoned in from the day care center called Les Racines de vie Montessori regarding a shootout there at that moment. Police arrived at 10:30 am ET and immediately entered the day care center to find 2 men shot dead on the scene. One of the dead was the gunman who apparently died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The other man was a day care employee. All 53 kids and the rest of the day care staff weren’t hurt and were quickly led out to a neighbor’s house where they were fed with lunch trolleyed in from Hull Hospital which was across the day care center. The neighbors and the daycare staff reacted well in this particular crisis.

To get a perspective of the area, Gatineau,Quebec is a town alongside the Ottawa River. Across this river, one would see Ottawa, Canada’s national capital and all the government buildings standing across this river as well. Ottawa is located within the province of Ontario, therefore, the Ottawa River has 2 provinces facing each other in a way.

Now as to the day care in question, it was opened only last year,based on an inspection report.

The naturally terrified parents immediately rushed to the scene but were asked to wait inside a bus while the police gathered the kids ages from infancy to 4 years of age. It wasn’t clear how much the kids had witnessed the shooting.

At a news conference which was held at 2:30 pm ET, the police said that the gunman entered the day care center which was comprised of 2 houses(225 and 229 Gamelin Street)–229 Gamelin Street had 5 infants and the rest of the brood–all 48 of them ranging in ages 1-4 were located at the 225 Gamelin Street address. Gunshots were fired at both houses. The lone gunman reportedly carried a shotgun and was threatening people inside the day care center. He allegedly shot a male day care center employee and afterwards, shot himself to death.The shotgun was beside the gunman’s body when the police found both of the deceased.Investigation is still ongoing and so far, the police is working on the premise that the shooting was related to a breakup of a relationship.

Today’s incident reminded everybody on the scene of still fresh memories of the Dec. 14, 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, USA. Even though this incident had happened in the States, it had touched a raw nerve of emotion to everybody worldwide because it happened to very young schoolkids in a school setting, all due to gunfire.

I had said my piece regarding my views on mental health intervention, responsible gun ownership and political bureaucracy on my 12-15-12 blog on the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shootout .

All I can say right now is that mass shootouts will happen anywhere in the world. How to curb them, God only knows,IMO.

These past few weeks, I had been apartment hunting and finally was able to get the one that I really wanted as my first choice. After signing the papers and other rental details aside from calling all concerned people and agencies of my eventual change of address, I am now in the process of sorting, boxing and bagging my things and throwing away unnecessary stuff.

I’m now waiting for my new home keys so that I can start putting away some stuff into that new place so that the movers wouldn’t have much to haul out on the big day, i.e. Moving Day.

I expect in the coming few weeks that I will be very busy trying to get everything together for the big move. I also expect that during that particular period of time, I will be writing less of my blogs until I’m finally settled in there. But don’t worry, mon ami. In between, in case there’s something very interesting that catches my attention, I’ll write about it. I cannot be denied of such an opportunity! You know me better than that.

I hope that both you and your loved ones had a good Easter break. Spring is here…a period of renewal . In my case, it’ll be in the form of a new home( aka nouveau maison.)

I can now just imagine living in there with feelings of giddy excitement amidst background music with lyrics along the lines of “A chair is just a chair and a home is not a house,etc” to that effect…..Well, you know what I mean.

Let me know if you were able to tap maple syrup from the maple trees. This is the perfect time!

April Fool’s Day is held on April 1 on which folks usually play tricks on one another.

I always believe that playing pranks on this day or on any day for that matter should be clean and harmless fun. If it ever crosses the line to inflict injury(physically or mentally), then it’s no longer fun, not even excusable to say the least.

Proceed with caution if one has the urge to play a joke or prank. Always put yourself on the other person’s shoes so that you can keep yourself in check that the other person doesn’t get hurt unnecessarily by you. Empathy is the key.

Always remember the Golden Rule: Do unto others what you would like others to do unto you.